


Life Support

by templeremus



Category: Humans (TV)
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Coma, Drabble, Gen, Post-Season/Series 02, Season/Series 03
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-20
Updated: 2018-05-20
Packaged: 2019-05-09 07:09:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14711456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/templeremus/pseuds/templeremus
Summary: Two months on from Day Zero, Mia waits for the world to change. Drabble. Spoilers for episode 3.01.





	Life Support

Mia still ties Leo's shoelaces.

  
It takes less time than it did when he was small and wriggling with childish energy. She could be out of the room within two minutes if she chose: there are many other crises to attend to, some of them matters of life or death, and every moment that passes only heightens the risk of discovery. Still she lingers, bound by duty just as much as love. Anatole is gentle and efficient, but caring for someone week after week demands a depth of feeling that he hasn't yet had a chance to acquire. He was built to fix things, and he looks at Leo in the detached, slightly exasperated way that a mechanic might study a burnt-out engine.

  
He will have to learn patience, as will all the other newly conscious Synths. Humanity can't be reprogrammed in seconds, like they were. It is quick to rupture and slow to mend. For some people out there - the ones who've destroyed their own compassion, filling themselves with anger instead - the breakdown is permanent. Mia can see it their eyes when they gather at the Railyard's perimeter fence. They look glassy, as if something has fused inside them. Like David did, at the very end.

  
She tries to put him out of her mind. Whatever happens next, this world is not his to inherit. It's theirs, humans and Synths, and they will heal it through a thousand little things, with talk and touch and empathy. Stories. Shoelaces.

  
Leo's hands and feet are limp, the nails tinged with blue. Sometimes he makes a noise around the breathing tube, a kind of sigh or groan. Anatole nods approvingly - "Vocalisation is consistent with partial awareness" - and for a few precious seconds Mia feels buoyant with hope.


End file.
